Cooma-Monaro Shire was created in 1981 by the amalgamation of the Cooma Municipality and Monaro Shire and is located on the tableland in the South East corner of the State of NSW. Cooma is the only major town in the Shire which includes four (4) villages – Bredbo, Michelago, Nimmitabel and Numeralla. Michelago was incorporated into the Shire in 2004 when Yarralumla Shire was dissolved.

Cooma has modern water supply and wastewater treatment facilities. Bredbo has a chlorinated water supply and Nimmitabel has a wastewater scheme and chlorinated, mixture of river and bore water supply. Michelago and Numeralla do not have public water supply or wastewater schemes.

Cooma is the management and operations centre for the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Agriculture and Tourism are the predominant industries.